This bridge carries 125th Street NW across the Mississippi River near the small town of Rice, Minnesota. It is one of two highway bridges between Sartell at the northern extent of the Saint Cloud area and Little Falls.

This structure is a very modern steel girder bridge. It represents a transition for the bridges over the great river. When heading north, this is the first of the shorter and lower bridges over the river. Traveling south, this will be the last bridge before you start getting to bridges that are major civil engineering projects. Traveling north, you often find bridges over the Mississippi River in rural areas where the roads naturally meet the river. Going south, the bridges tend to be part of major metro areas that can generate the traffic needed to justify a major river bridge.

The bridge itself is the typical 1970s and 1980s economical style steel girder with concrete deck and concrete piers. It should last 100 years or more with only routine painting and inspections.

The previous bridges in this location did not last that long. According to Mary Costello (Climbing The Mississippi River Bridge By Bridge, Volume 2), the first crossing here was a ferry service. A 3 span steel truss bridge was built in 1900. It was destroyed by ice in the spring of 1906. A new metal truss bridge was built in 1907. Due to being very narrow and lightly constructed, the 1907 bridge was more or less obsolete the day it opened. It did, however, survive for 70 years.

The photo above is the north face of the bridge looking towards the west. The photo below is a view looking west down the length of the traffic deck.

These two photos are views of the downriver or south face of the bridge. The photo above is a view from the east riverbank from a clearing located a few hundred feet downstream of the bridge. The photo below is a view from the southeast corner of the structure.

These two photos, and the eight that follow, are views from the spring of 2011 just as the last of the winter snow was melting. The photo above is looking west down the length of the bridge deck as seen from the downstream south side of the highway. The photo below is looking west across the Mississippi River along the downstream south face of the bridge.

These two photos are looking northwest towards the downstream south face of the County Highway 2 bridge from two different vantage points on the east bank of the river. The slow moving current at this location has not yet broken up all of the ice on the river.

These two photos are views looking north towards the east end of the bridge. The photo above shows the first bridge span, while the photo below shows the east bridge abutment.

The photo above is looking east across the Mississippi River along the downstream south face of the County Highway 2 bridge from near the water level. The photo below is a similar view, but taken from higher on the riverbank near the traffic level.

The photo above is looking east down the length of the bridge deck from the southwest corner of the structure. The photo below is the bridge plate.